June 18, 2013 / Leslie

Review and Giveaway: If You Were Here by Alafair Burke

Giveaway, Mystery, Suspense, Thriller, TLC Tours

If You Were Here
by Alafair Burke

Genre: Mystery/Thriller
Publisher: Harper
Publish Date: June 4, 2013
Format: Hardcover | 384 pages
Rating: 4½ of 5

From the back cover:

Chasing a hot story, magazine journalist McKenna Wright uncovers information that sends her back to the past, to the disappearance of a close friend — a classmate of her husband’s at West Point — who vanished without a trace a decade ago.

McKenna always believed the truth went deeper than the police investigation ever reached. To find answers, the former prosecutor turned reporter embarks on a twisting search that leads across New York City and into dark secrets buried dangerously close to home.

My Thoughts:

In this fast paced mystery/thriller Alafair Burke has created a complex, intriguing plot with multiple story lines and a cast of interesting characters. There were a lot of plot twists and the reader is sent careening in different directions more than a few times. Yes, the story line was complex but never so much that I couldn’t follow along although one of the plot twists was a little unbelievable and seemed to come out of nowhere — but looking back, there was a small hint and I didn’t catch it.

Our protagonist, McKenna Wright, is a strong but not always endearing character. In her obsessive quest to find the truth about what happened to her friend she can be a little too aggressive and often jumps to conclusions leading to bad decisions. This impatience caused her to lose her position as a prosecutor with the District Attorney’s Office and now she has been fired from the magazine. She is far from perfect, which only makes her more interesting.

Most of the story is told from McKenna’s point of view in short, action filled chapters. The back story is relayed in bits and pieces through a series of short flashbacks. As McKenna keeps digging for information, the suspense builds, the focus of her suspicions shift, and we don’t know who to trust. I thought I had the bad guy/gal figured out a few times only to be wrong as new information is uncovered. Eventually all the story lines come together but the reader is kept guessing until the end.

Overall an engaging mystery with a lot of plot twists that kept me wondering as I raced to the conclusion.

Giveaway Information

The giveaway is open to those 18 years of age or older with a mailing address in the US or Canada. To enter, leave a comment on or before June 30, 2013. For an extra entry tweet or blog the giveaway and leave the link in your comment. I will draw a random winner who will be contacted by email and have 48 hours to respond.

[Giveaway has ended]

Winner: JJT

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Source: Review copy provided by TLC Tours
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